NEW DELHI: In a step to strengthen India-United Arab Emirates defence ties Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) is visiting UAE from 21–24 October 2024.
The Indian Navy on Monday said, “This visit aims to strengthen the defence cooperation between the two countries, in line with the deepening Comprehensive Strategic Partnership across all sectors, and consolidate bilateral maritime relations between India and UAE, and to explore new avenues of cooperation between the two navies.”
The CNS is scheduled to hold discussions with Rear Admiral Pilot Saeed Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, Commander of the UAE Naval Forces and other senior Government officials of UAE.
He is also scheduled to visit the National Defence College of UAE, where he will interact with the Student Officers. During the visit, the CNS will also witness the conduct of the 3rd Edition of the India-UAE Bilateral Naval Exercise.
The cooperative engagements between the Indian Navy and the UAE Navy include Operational interactions through port calls, bilateral naval exercises and reciprocal visits, navy-to-navy staff talks, as well as the Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (JDCC).
The 12th edition of the Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (JDCC) meeting between India and UAE was held in Abu Dhabi on July 09, 2024. The India-UAE JDCC was established in 2006.
It was in February this year that Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid seventh official visit to the UAE since 2015 and the third in the last eight months.
Later, in September Prime Minister Narendra Modi warmly welcomed Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Delhi and the two leaders held talks on the full gamut of India-UAE relations. The India- UAE ties were elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2015 post PM Modi's UAE visit.
About 3.5 million Indians live and work in the UAE.